New Work Plan: Government issues further guidance's Tags

New Work Plan: Government issues further guidance

Published 14 January 2019

The facts

Swedish derogation: The Government has confirmed that it will repeal the ‘Swedish derogation’, which gives employers the ability to pay agency workers less than their own workers if the agency workers have a contract of employment with the agency. This will now be repealed from 6 April 2020.

Holiday pay: The Government intends to increase the reference period for calculating holiday pay from 12 weeks to 12 months. This will now come into force on 6 April 2020.

Written statement of terms and conditions: The Government has said it intends to give all workers (rather than just employees) the right to a written statement of rights on their first day of work (rather than within two months). It is also expanding the information required. This will include, amongst other matters, details of eligibility for sick leave and pay and details of other types of paid leave. This will now come into force on 6 April 2020.

Information and consultation arrangements: The threshold required to request the set-up of information and consultation arrangements will reduce from 10% to 2% of employees. This will now come into force in April 2020.

The Government will quadruple the maximum Employment Tribunal fine for employers who are demonstrated to have shown malice, spite or gross oversight in breaching employment rights from £5,000 to £20,000. This will now come into force on 6 April 2019.

The timetable for the remaining proposals is as yet unknown but we will keep you updated.